feral

Monday, October 3, 2005

We'll have to be out of here before the sun comes up tomorrow so I'll quick add a note now.

A picture named pumphouse2.jpg
I wanted to tell you earlier about how I went out to the pump house this morning because we ran out of water last night and I had to prime the pump. And I opened the door and grabbed the little wrench I use to twist off the pressure gauge, and as usual I startled the deer mouse who lives in there, but this time, instead of just the little mouse scurrying out of her llama-wool nest dome and down into a wee hidy-hole, it was a little mouse with six fat shiny gray-furred babies attached underneath. I don't know how she managed to scurry with all those younguns clamped on for dear life, but she did, and they all vanished together down the hidy-hole, it was a tight squeeze because the hole is really the narrow gap between a pipe and the concrete, and I wondered whether she'd be able to get them all back up and out of there again and into the llama-wool nest once the excitement was over.

Didn't paint today. There was enough to do as it was. So I'll paint tomorrow, because I'll be stranded at the shop all day anyway, waiting for Brian's first day at the center to end. I'm packing up, taking lots of food. I'm also making a list of Brian's language—phonetic renderings of his utterances and their translations—so folks will know what he's talking about. I'm way more nervous about this than he is.

It snowed and stuck to the mountainsides overnight, and snowed on us more than once as we drove around today and off and on all evening. It's not sticking here, though. Thank goodness.

I received today a giant box of remainders I ordered three weeks ago, one-half of the order. I hope the other box turns up, too. Good stuff.

I'm sleeping now. I'll add something (possibly) more noteworthy midafternoon Tuesday.

11:02:26 PM comment [] trackback []

Gotta go out into the world, mail sold books, paint some.

Saturday I sold the collected letters of Elizabeth Bishop to a guy in Melbourne, Australia. Last night someone in Whangerei, New Zealand, bought In Search of the Medicine Buddha. When something interesting sells to someone far away, I quote from it here before kissing it good-bye:

The hours passed slowly, carrying us toward dawn. Our work followed the rhythms of the hearth fire—mostly long stretches of meditation, punctuated with cups of hot chai. The evening smelled of damp earth and hearth smoke.
Gopal continued, quoting the words of God according to the scriptures of alchemy. "Shiva said to Parvati, 'O Devi, with this rasayana, the body will quickly develop internal strength. It will give self-control and wisdom. If you wish to leave the illusion of this world, then your mind should be connected to this science. It is a bridge. Whatever blessing of the Dharma that come from giving wealth freely to poor people, making pilgimages, seeing statues of deities, and other such practices, we can also get from this art. If a man's heart meditates on parada, it will remove the negativity and accumulated bad karma that has affected him from lifetime to lifetime, he will be given life, money, health, good digestion, wisdom, strength, youth, and every kind of good luck. This Rasa Shastra is famous throughout the galaxy. It makes one holy, pure, and successful." (David Crow, In Search of the Medicine Buddha [Tarcher, 2001])

Today we turn the bookstore's eastern wall the same hideous hue we painted the west wall last Saturday. It's OK. The new rug will tie it all together.

I know used bookstores are supposed to be sort of disheveled, comfily run-down sorts of places. But maybe they didn't start out that way; we'll probably unravel nicely as time goes by. Besides, we have to make a good first impression with the locals during opening week, or they'll never come back. Would be nice to be able to spend something on actual books, though. As it is we're juggling the rent money to make this big thing happen.

Kangaroo Rat turned up on the shelf last night but found no midnight snack awaiting him. I felt bad about that as I drifted into deep sleep.

Cold here, and rain all night and most of this morning. We go out into it now.
9:48:35 AM comment [] trackback []

BROKEN BLOG REDIRECTION:
Dr. Omed walks the walk. Just click on the labyrinth.

[Image from http://www.labyrinthos.net/.]
8:46:47 AM

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